Drilling machine for rock faces and the like



Jan- 6, E\ w DRILLING MACHINE FOR ROCK FACES AND THE LIKE 4 Sheets-Sheet1 Filed Aug. 5, 1955 Inventor EH 4. W. Hurd ttorney Jan. 6, 1959 E. w.HURD DRILLING MACHINE FOR ROCK FACES AND THE LIKE 4 Sheets-heet 2 FiledAug. 3, 1955 Inventor Er ic. W. Hurd ttorney' Jan. 6; 1959 w, HURDDRILLING MACHINE FOR ROCK FACES AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 3, 1955 4Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR 52/09 W. #060 ATTORNEY Jan. 6, 1959 E. w. HURD2,367,412

1 DRILLING MACHINE FOR ROCK FACES AND THE LIKE File d Aug. 3, 1955 4Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR FE/CH t. #060 ATTORNEY United rates PatentDRILLING MACHINE FOR ROCK FAC AND THE LIKE Eric Wilson Hurd, Pendleton,Salford, England, assignor to F. Taylor & Sons (Manchester) Limited,Salford, England, a British company Application August 3, 1955, SerialNo. 526,149

Claims priority, application Great Britain August 7, 1954 1 Claim. (Cl.255-51) This invention relates to a drilling machine for rock faces andthe like, such as is used, for example, for drilling shot holes whenmining iron ore.

Such a drilling machine is described in British patent specification No.681,166 and consists of a wheeled chassis on which is mounted a jibcarrying the drill unit. In order that the drill may be brought intoposition to operate, without moving the chassis, so as to cover aselected area of the face within the reach of the drill and with therequired direction for the hole, the jib has been constructed forraising and loweringand for swinging to right and left or slewing. Thedrill unit being pivotally mounted on an axis transverse to the jib sothat it can be tilted relative to such axis, the combined movement ofthe jib and tilting of the drill thereon being used to align the drillin the required direction. By such construction there are providedvarious axes of movement. In one machine made according to the inventionof such earlier patent by the same inventor, this was made with twintubular jib booms, each of which had an internally mounted tubularextension, the drill unit being pivoted between such twin booms on across shaft located between the outer ends of the tubular extensionsthereof. At the lower end, the twin booms were secured in a cylindricalhub-like member rotatably journalled in a socket mounted on theturntable for elevation or tilting adjustment. In such machine, the useof twin booms was considered necessary in order that there should be noblind area of the rock face.

In practice it was found that the jib, as a whole, lacked somewhat inrigidity due both to the flexibility of the twin booms and to movementin the base mounting.

Also, such booms and base mounting appeared to be unduly heavy andcumbersome, though necessarily so because of the stresses to which theywould be subjected.

The object of the present invention is to provide a drilling machine ofthe kind aforesaid having an improved construction providing greaterrigidity for the jib and mounting while being at the same time ofrelatively lighter construction.

According to the present invention there is provided a drilling machinefor rock faces and the like including a wheeled chassis, a turntable onsaid chassis, a superstructure on said turntable, a jib mounted on thesuperstructure and a drill unit on the jib characterised in that the jibis pivotally mounted on the superstructure and the drill unit is mountedon the jib so as to be rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the jib.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a drilling machine according to theinvention, part only of the jib being illustrated,

Fig. 1a is a section along line 1a1a of Fig. 1,

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the remainder of the jib and the drill unit,showing the manner of mounting the latter on the jib,

Fig. 3 is a section along line 3--3 of Fig. 1,

"ice;

Fig. 4 is a section along line 4-4 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the end of the jib on whichthe drill is mounted.

As shown in the drawings a machine for drilling shot holes in a rockface for example, of an iron ore mine, comprises a wheeled chassis 10having pneumatic tyres 11 for convenience of transport and adapted to bemoved by means of an electric motor 12 mounted thereon suppliedwithelectric power through a suitable cable (not shown). This chassis 10 isof rigid construction with a high ground clearance so that it may, wherenecessary, be operated in a wet mine without detriment to the mechanismand apparatus mounted thereon. At each end of the chassis are heavyscrew jacks 13 which may be screwed down into contact with the minefloor to provide a greater degree of stability than can be obtained fromthe pneumatically tyred wheels 11. There are three such jacks 13, one inthe centre at the front and two at the rear which latter are pivotallymounted in brackets 14 which can be swung out to give working positionswider than the chassis 10 or swung back within the width of the chassis10 during transport.

Mounted on the chassis 10 near the front end is a turntable 15 carryingan upstanding superstructure 16 of generally conical shape. At the apexof the superstructure 16 are bearings 17 for trunnions 18 of a jib 19.The

turntable 15 is adapted to be rotated by a turning mechanism includinghydraulic rams 37 and a chain 39 engaged by sprocket wheel 40 and to beheld firmly in any set position by clamping brakes 15a adapted to giveadditional rigidity and to relieve the turning mechanism of,

any torque load arising from drilling thrusts. The hydraulic rams 39 aremounted below the turntable 15 and between the sides of a sub-frame 20secured to the chassis 10 at 41 and chain 39. The rams are secured tothe underside of the turntable 15 and the chain passes around of astationary chain sprocket rigidly secured to the sub-frame 20, reactionbetween the rams and the chain controlling rotational movement of theturntable 15. On the turntable 15 is a hydraulic ram 21 positioneddiametrically across the same angularly with its rear end lowermost andmounted on suitable trunnions 22 on the turntable 15 and its forward endpivotally connected to a depending bracket 23 secured to the undersideof the jib 19 near its rear end. The hydraulic ram 21 is adapted tocontrol movement of the jib in a vertical arc.

The turntable and trunnion mounting for the jib 19 enable the latter tobe twisted and raised and lowered for covering a large working facearea.

The jib 19 comprises a main or base end 19a of open lattice constructionfor lightness combined with rigidity and strength and a tubularextensibleportion 24 slidably housed within the lattice structure beingguided at the outer end in suitable bushes 25 and constrained fromrotation by a sliding shoe 26 engaging a long key or guide rail 27secured in the bottom of the lattice structure. Bush 25 consists of anannular member secured by bolts, rivets or the like to the end of jib 19so that the extending portion 24 is located in position and is capableof being extended or retracted. Locking pin 42 passes through the end ofthe ram piston and through the framework located adjacent to the end ofjib 19. Within the lattice is mounted the cylinder of a double-actinghydraulic ram adapted for extending and retracting the tubularextensible portion 24 of the jib, the tubular extensible portion 24telescoping over the ram cylinder. On the outer end of the tubularextensible portion 24 of the jib is rotatably mounted a forked bracket29 the arms of which extend laterally of the longitudinal axis of thejib 19 and carry transverse bearings 30 for trunnions 31 of the drillunit which is indicated generally by, the reference, numeral, 31a.Opposite the arms is a counter-balance tail 32 Within the end of thetubular extensible portion 24 and bolted to a flange 33 thereon is ahelio-centric gear reduction unit 3412 driven by an electric motor 34:whichmotor serves to control the rotational movement ofthe drill unitaround the jib. Secured to the bracket 29 is an end plate 35 having acentral boss 36 adapted-to be located on, and keyed to, the output shaft34a of the gear 34b. The motor 34 drives av heliocentric gear 3412having a reduction ratio of 2800 to 1, thus driving the output shaft 34aat a speed of two revolutions per' minute. The output shaft 34a is keyedto the end plate 35, which is itself bolted to an aluminum boss 35a,which embraces a cast iron bearing surface 35b at. the end of jib 19.End plate X is bolted to flange 33 and. is provided with a threadedaperture through, which the end of the ram piston Y passes. This endportion also passes through a similar screw threaded hole in flange 33and the extending portion thereof is provided with a cap, Z.

Arcuate movement of the drill unit 31a is controlled by hydraulic rams31b attached at one end, by means of brackets (not shown), adjacent theupper end of the counter-balance tail 32. The other end of the rams areattached to the drill unit 310 forwardly of the trunnion 31 by means ofbrackets 31c.

,Thedrill unit 31a may be of any known construction such as thatdescribed in the specification of the aforesaid earlier patent, themeans of rotation and feeding of the drill being described in myco-pending application for Patent No. 526,150.

What Iclaim'is: A drilling machine for rock faces and the like includinga wheeled chassis, a turntable on said chassis, a superstructure on saidturntable, a jib mounted by one of its ends for pivotal movement in avertical are on said superstructure, a hydraulic ram mounted on saidturntable and extending 'angularly upwardly to said jib, a pivotalconnection between said ram and said jib at a position intermediate theends of said jib, a motor mounted at the end of said jib, acounter-balanced'bracket mounted on said jib, a drill unit mounted insaid bracket and connecting means between said motor and said bracketfor controlling rotational movement of said drill unit about'thelongitudinal axis of said jib, said jib comprising an outer part oflattice structure and, aninner' part of tubular construction, said motorbeing mounted on the outer end of said-tubular part, a hydraulic rammounted in said outer part and connected to said inner part forcontrolling, extension from and retraction into said outer part of saidinner part, guide rails within said outer part, and shoes secured tosaid inner part cooperating with said guide rails to prevent rotation ofsaid inner part.

References Cited. in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

